Recently, during the navigation of ships, various electronic navigation devices are mounted in a ship so that electronic navigational chart (ENC) is broadly used instead of paper maps or charts of the related art.
Such an electronic navigational chart (ENC) is produced according to a digital waterway data exchange standard S-57 established by International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and is configured to transmit data produced according to S-57 to different types of computers according to ISO/IEC 8211 regulation.
Further, generally, even though the electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) which are mounted in a large size ship may use the electronic navigation chart as it is, a database of the electronic navigation chart is optimized for every purpose in order to use the electronic navigation chart for a simplified electronic chart system (ECS), which is mounted on a small or medium size ship, a ship automatic tracking apparatus (ATA), a GPS plotter, or a mobile navigation device.
Therefore, recently, ships are navigating with an electronic navigation system for determining a route using the electronic navigation chart and preventing collision with other ship mounted therein.
To be more specific, as an example of the related art of the electronic navigation chart as described above and a ship navigation and collision prevention system using the same, for example, according to Korean Registered Patent No. 10-0562216, a simplified electronic navigation chart producing method for a ship automatic tracking system using an international electronic navigation chart which performs a step of separately storing data of the electronic navigation chart in a memory for every record; a step of optimizing data set descriptive records (DDR) which describe a data structure and a definition among the data stored in the memory; a step of optimizing meta records indicating confirmation of general information of data, general information on a data structure, and parameter information required to interpret data; a step of optimizing a record reader and directory including information such as a method of reading contents included in each field of the electronic navigation and a size thereof; a step of optimizing a feature object identifier (FOID) of a feature record which is a field assigning an unique identifier in the world for an object indicated by the record; and a step of optimizing a vector record attribute field (ATTV) of a vector record representing an attribute of space information to produce an optimized electronic navigation chart which can be mounted in a tracking device, a navigation device, a black box device, or a mobile navigation device of a medium or small size ship to be used has been suggested.
Further, as another example of the related art of the electronic navigation chart as described above and a ship navigation and collision prevention system using the same, for example, according to Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1275277, an avoidance route searching support system of a ship in a navigable route by using a technique of generating a quadrangular unit route which is configured to include an input unit which receives electronic navigation chart information, navigation information of own ship and other ship, and own ship's scheduled route; a calculating unit which generates a quadrangular unit route in a navigable route according to the electronic navigation chart information, the navigation information, and own ship's scheduled route input to the input unit and calculates an avoidance route in the quadrangular unit route; and a display unit which displays the avoidance route calculated in the calculating unit on the electronic navigation chart to search the avoidance route in the navigable route when a ship enters or departs along the navigable route near the coast, if there is a risk of collision with the coastline, invasion of the route, and collision with other ships has been suggested.
Further, as another example of the related art of the electronic navigation chart as described above and a ship navigation and collision prevention system using the same, for example, according to Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1376928, a navigation aids arrangement system and method on the basis of an electronic navigation chart which is configured to arrange and verify an optimal navigation aids by configuring an electronic navigation chart based graphic user interface (GUI) and multilaterally analyze and arrange various attribute data of aids to navigation such as a character of light, a height of light, and visibility of light has been suggested.
Moreover, as another example of the related art of the electronic navigation chart as described above and a ship navigation and collision prevention system using the same, for example, according to Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2015-0050766, a collision risk recognition and collision avoidance supporting device based on ECDIS configured to include an electronic navigation chart which collects a position and surrounding geographical information of a ship at sea to display the collected information on a display to set a route based on a GPS and a support unit which supports collision avoidance of the ship by recognizing a dangerous object on the electronic navigation chart and displaying an avoidance route to support a decision of an operator by supporting automatic recognition of a dangerous object on a given route through automatic recognition on other ship's information from an automatic recognizing device and a dangerous object list on the electronic navigation chart and an avoidance route in consideration of a passage width has been suggested.
As described above, even though various technical matters of the electronic navigation chart and a navigation guidance and collision prevention system of a ship using the same of the related art have been suggested, the electronic navigation chart and systems using the same of the related art as described above have the following problems.
To be more specific, the electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) and the navigation systems using the same of the related art simply enumerate various navigation information such as information on a navigation route or surrounding areas and a distance from other ship on the electronic navigation chart with respect to a value at a corresponding time. Therefore, there is a disadvantage in that the screen configuration is complex and it is difficult to identify a changing tendency according to a time so that it is not easy for a navigation officer to quickly and accurately only desired information through the screen at a glance.
Further, the electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) and the navigation systems using the same of the related art simply display enumerate various navigation information such as information on a navigation route or surrounding areas and a distance from other ship on a screen. Therefore, for example, when the ship approaches a specific ship with a predetermined distance or shorter, a function of generating a warning to a ship which has an avoidance obligation to effectively prevent collision in advance and determining an optimal route through a simulation when the avoidance route is determined has not been suggested.
Therefore, as described above, in order to solve the problems of the electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) and the navigation systems using the same of the related art which have a disadvantage in that various navigation information is simply enumerated and displayed on the ENC so that it is difficult to quickly and accurately recognize only desired information at a glance and a function of generating a warning to a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way to effectively prevent collision is not considered, it is desirable to provide a ship collision avoidance guiding system using a time series graphic display with a new configuration which is configured to simply and intuitively represent a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships at sea within a predetermined range and nearby obstacles to be easily recognized at a glance to help to quickly and accurately judge a situation and generate a warning to a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way at the time of approaching in a predetermined distance or shorter to effectively prevent collision in advance and determine whether to avoid through simulation and determine an optimal avoidance route. However, devices or methods which satisfy all of the above-described requirements have not been suggested.